I twisted my ankle while coming down the bleachers at a basketball game, spraining it when my foot turned inward. Do I need to strengthen all the muscles around my ankle or just the ones affected by the sprain?
The type of injury you’re describing is known as an inversion sprain, where the foot twists inward. In this case, it’s likely that you sprained a ligament inside the joint, not the muscles. Since ligaments can’t be strengthened through exercises, the goal of rehab is to focus on strengthening the muscles around the ankle to help protect the weakened joint.
Rehabilitation for an ankle sprain usually includes muscle strengthening, along with flexibility exercises and proprioception training (exercises that help the joint sense its position). In the past, rehab focused on the muscles along the outside of the lower leg, but recent studies have suggested otherwise.
A study by Australian physiotherapists discovered that weakness in the invertor muscles (the ones on the inside of the ankle that control inward movement) is a key issue following an inversion sprain. Therefore, strengthening exercises after an inversion sprain should target these invertor muscles for better recovery and prevention of future injuries.
Reference: Joanne Munn, et al. Eccentric Muscle Strength in Functional Ankle Instability. Medicine & Science in Sports & Exercise. February 2003. Vol. 35, No. 2, pp. 245-250.